Madsen back to lead team at Essex

Club Captain Wayne Madsen makes his return to LV= County Championship action and will lead his side against Essex at Chelmsford, starting on Sunday.

Madsen returned from injury in Thursday’s NatWest T20 Blast fixture at Northampton and has now been named in the county’s four-day squad to face Essex this week as Derbyshire look for back-to-back LV=CC wins.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, however, will miss the game due to personal reasons but he is expected to return to the squad to face Leicestershire Foxes in the NatWest T20 Blast at The 3aaa County Ground on Thursday 18 June; 7pm start.

The other change sees Tom Knight named in a four-day squad for the first time this season, as he replaces Tom Taylor who is carrying a slight injury. Ben Cotton and Alex Hughes are also both injured and will miss this week’s fixture.

Essex include England Test Captain Alastair Cook in their squad for the first time this season in the LV= County Championship.

Cook, who recently became England’s highest run scorer in the history of Test cricket, will use the match as preparation for the upcoming Ashes series which begins on 8 July.

Essex are bottom of Division Two, having recorded just one victory from their opening six matches, but they have played one game fewer than the teams immediately above them in the table.

Despite their position in the table there is undoubted quality in their lineup with England international Ravi Bopara and New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder providing batting firepower, while their bowling attack is led by the veteran David Masters who has claimed over 600 first-class wickets in his career.

Harry Storer and Joseph Bowden recorded Derbyshire’s highest ever opening partnership, against Essex way back in July 1929.

The duo put on a staggering 322 for the first-wicket as Derbyshire declared on 418-4, before going to draw their three-day Championship match.

The record still stands to this day, but is still 95 runs of the highest Derbyshire partnership for any wicket, as Kim Barnett and Tim Tweats put on 417 for the second-wicket in a match against Yorkshire in 1997.

You can follow live updates on Twitter (@DerbyshireCCC) by using the #ESSvDER hashtag, plus regular updates will be available on Facebook throughout the day.

Supporters can also listen to live ball-by-ball commentary with BBC Radio Derby online.

Derbyshire are back in home NatWest T20 Blast action on Thursday 18 June when they welcome Leicestershire Foxes to The 3aaa County Ground.